Trying out the new Facebook ads

December 9, 2007 By

Bill Erickson noticed a General Motors ad that had my name and picture associated to it. Yeah, I love my Saturn so I joined their fan page. It’ll be interesting to see how companies and people use these ads and whether these turn off Facebook users or not.

One thing that pisses me off? Facebook is making a ton of money on these ads yet I don’t get anything for basically endorsing products.

We’re such suckers for going along with this scheme.

Filed Under: Facebook app
  • http://wearesakuzaku.com/ Matt McVickar

    Come on, nobody else saw this coming? Isn’t it clear by now that Facebook is in the business of doing business? Of _course_ they’re making a ton of money on those ads — they wouldn’t have spent the time to create fan pages otherwise! They were created with the express purpose of finding free endorsement by the likes of people just like you, using human nature as the impetus for activity. Facebook’s days as a utility are over, if they ever really existed. It’s just a vehicle now.

  • http://wearesakuzaku.com Matt McVickar

    Come on, nobody else saw this coming? Isn’t it clear by now that Facebook is in the business of doing business? Of _course_ they’re making a ton of money on those ads — they wouldn’t have spent the time to create fan pages otherwise! They were created with the express purpose of finding free endorsement by the likes of people just like you, using human nature as the impetus for activity. Facebook’s days as a utility are over, if they ever really existed. It’s just a vehicle now.

  • http://english.info.org.il/ Hanan Cohen

    We have only one kind of friends - real human ones.

    Websites that list our friends are not our friends.

  • http://english.info.org.il Hanan Cohen

    We have only one kind of friends - real human ones.

    Websites that list our friends are not our friends.

  • Christopher Coulter

    But hey, that’s what Web 2.0 and Loser Generated Content is all about, doing the work FOR them, getting paid pennies or nothing, and being super happy about it all, being part of a “community”, and having all these oh-so-valuable ‘conversations’, creating content for the sheer good of “humanity”. Outside of the Valley haze, this is called exploitation.

    Google is not a search engine, it’s an advertising marketing data company, and Facebook is not a ‘social software’ company, it’s an advertising marketing data company. The fact that some people find temporal nominal usage from the services is pretty much irrelevant.

  • Christopher Coulter

    But hey, that’s what Web 2.0 and Loser Generated Content is all about, doing the work FOR them, getting paid pennies or nothing, and being super happy about it all, being part of a “community”, and having all these oh-so-valuable ‘conversations’, creating content for the sheer good of “humanity”. Outside of the Valley haze, this is called exploitation.

    Google is not a search engine, it’s an advertising marketing data company, and Facebook is not a ‘social software’ company, it’s an advertising marketing data company. The fact that some people find temporal nominal usage from the services is pretty much irrelevant.

  • http://www.sutherlandclan.org.uk/ Johnny Sutherland

    I think Facebook are going the wrong way about some parts of their business. If they cheese their user’s off, they will go elsewhere. I mentioned the beacon functionality/saga to a friend and they were shocked. Mind you Microsoft cheesed off a lot of people, but they are still very successful.

  • http://www.sutherlandclan.org.uk Johnny Sutherland

    I think Facebook are going the wrong way about some parts of their business. If they cheese their user’s off, they will go elsewhere. I mentioned the beacon functionality/saga to a friend and they were shocked. Mind you Microsoft cheesed off a lot of people, but they are still very successful.

  • http://blog.stealthmode.com francine hardaway

    Well, this is where I think social media could fall apart; at the business model. I am hearing more and more often from people who don’t want to be monetized and aggregated as data.

    Whatever happened to the virtual goods idea? Perhaps it is more slow-growing, but less offensive and in-your-face as a way for these sites to make money.

  • http://blog.stealthmode.com/ francine hardaway

    Well, this is where I think social media could fall apart; at the business model. I am hearing more and more often from people who don’t want to be monetized and aggregated as data.

    Whatever happened to the virtual goods idea? Perhaps it is more slow-growing, but less offensive and in-your-face as a way for these sites to make money.

  • Joe

    I’m not in Facebook’s target audience demographic, but I just wonder how many click thrus result in real sales through this.

  • Joe

    I’m not in Facebook’s target audience demographic, but I just wonder how many click thrus result in real sales through this.

  • Karim

    Outside of the Valley haze, this is called exploitation.

    Hmmm. So you’re saying that Facebook gave us all free boat rides to this Island Tropical Paradise and free meals, and huts in which to sleep, and free wakeup calls at dawn, and free iron bracelet jewelry, and free machetes to chop down sugar cane, which is FUN, or at least that’s what kind Massa Zuckerberg done called it…

    …hey wait a minute….

  • Karim

    Outside of the Valley haze, this is called exploitation.

    Hmmm. So you’re saying that Facebook gave us all free boat rides to this Island Tropical Paradise and free meals, and huts in which to sleep, and free wakeup calls at dawn, and free iron bracelet jewelry, and free machetes to chop down sugar cane, which is FUN, or at least that’s what kind Massa Zuckerberg done called it…

    …hey wait a minute….

  • meechwings

    Ah, well, if you feel that way maybe you shouldn’t join sponsored groups.

  • meechwings

    Ah, well, if you feel that way maybe you shouldn’t join sponsored groups.

  • http://mdblog.68kmac.org/ Mark Benson (MDBlog)

    That’d be why I quit facebook in a Dvorak-esque fit of crankyness, I don’t like being exploited. I’ll just blog thanks…

  • http://mdblog.68kmac.org Mark Benson (MDBlog)

    That’d be why I quit facebook in a Dvorak-esque fit of crankyness, I don’t like being exploited. I’ll just blog thanks…